Research Fellow, The Independent Institute, and author, Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control

The Second Amendments right to keep and bear arms has been among the most controversialand least understoodrights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Did the Founders intend to safeguard an individual right or a collective right? How did Englands efforts to ban firearms in colonial Boston shape the Founders views on how to protect citizens from government tyranny? What kinds of gun restrictions, if any, are consistent with the Founders aims?

How exactly has gun control in the United States affected violent crime rates? With the Supreme Courts review of the Washington, D.C., handgun ban, along with recent shootings on school campuses and elsewhere, these questions are more timely than ever. Stephen P. Halbrook provides the fullest account yet of the Founders views in his new book, The Founders Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms. Criminologist and attorney Don B. Kates, Jr., author of Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control, will discuss what effects gun control has on violent crime. Please join us as Halbrook and Kates examine the Second Amendment, then and now.

The Founders' Second AmendmentStephen Halbrooks The Founders Second Amendment is the first book-length account of the origins of the Second Amendment, based on the Founders own statements as found in newspapers, correspondence, debates, and resolutions. Dr. Halbrook investigates the period from 1768 to 1826, from the last years of British rule and the American Revolution through to the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the passing of the Founders generation. His book offers the most comprehensive analysis of the arguments behind the drafting and adoption of the Second Amendment, and the intentions of the men who created it. With a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on this topic imminent, The Founders Second Amendment could scarcely be more timely.